Yom Echad = Day One

Yom Rishon. It was a chidush for me when I lerned that in Bereishis 1:3-5 HaShem “only” (it certainly isn’t only, but anyway) declares “Day One” when He created light and separated the light from darkness. Day One. 

Yom Echad. The consecutive days are yom shenee, yom shlishi etc but the day when light was created was “only” Yom Echad. 

I never really observed the importance of this. But during this weeks lernen I understood that this was the beginning but not the fulfillment. 

When we finished the building of the mishkan on 25th of Kislev and Moshe Rabbeinu tells us to “hold our horses” and wait three months, it all became clear to me. We were asked to wait for the first day of the first month. It was the day the princes first began with their offerings. It was the first day the shechina came to came to dwell among us. It was the first day that a sacrifice in any but the appointed place was forbidden. It was the first day the kohanim bestowed their blessings upon us. It was the first day for regular korbanot. It was the first day the kohanim took part of certain parts of the offerings. It was the first day the heavenly fire was seen on the altar. It was the first day…Period. 

It was Yom Rishon. 

The creation was “only” the beginning. Day One. 

But the day when we built a dirah beTachtonim and perfected the intention of HaShem was truly “Yom Rishon”.   

Wonderful. 

The unity with HaShem. And as the Alter Rebbe reminds us about this unity in Ch. 33 of Tanya this week that Chazal instituted us to say: "אַשְׁרֵינוּ מַה טּוֹב חֶלְקֵנוּ וְכוּ' וּמַה יָפָה יְרוּשָּׁתֵנוּ".